Luke 9:13

13 But Jesus said to them, "You give them something to eat." They said, "We have only five loaves of bread and two fish, unless we go buy food for all these people."

Luke 9:13 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 9:13

And he said to them, give ye them to eat
Signifying, that it was not his will to dismiss people, and send them scattering abroad into the adjacent cities, towns, or houses; and that there was no need of it, but that his will was, that they should be supplied with provisions out of their stock:

and they said, we have no more than five loaves and two fishes;
and these loaves were barley loaves, and the fishes small, ( John 6:9 )

except we should go and buy meat for all this people;
which would at least cost them two hundred pence; and which they represent as impossible to be done, either through want of so much money, or the scarcity of provision in those parts; where, had they money, it would be difficult, at least to get such a quantity of provisions at once, which so great a number of persons required.

Luke 9:13 In-Context

11 But the people learned where Jesus went and followed him. He welcomed them and talked with them about God's kingdom and healed those who needed to be healed.

12 Late in the afternoon, the twelve apostles came to Jesus and said, "Send the people away. They need to go to the towns and countryside around here and find places to sleep and something to eat, because no one lives in this place."

13 But Jesus said to them, "You give them something to eat." They said, "We have only five loaves of bread and two fish, unless we go buy food for all these people."

14 (There were about five thousand men there.) Jesus said to his followers, "Tell the people to sit in groups of about fifty people."

15 So the followers did this, and all the people sat down.